


The Spider's Bakery

by InsecurelyPerfect



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Bakery!AU, Flash is a little shit, Justifiably, Peter is Angry, Social Media, flash apologizes, flash comes back, hes just also in charge of a bakery, lowkey angst, peter is still ur friendly neighborhood spiderman, peter steps back from the avengers, tony stark is all over instagram
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-26 02:16:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20036242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsecurelyPerfect/pseuds/InsecurelyPerfect
Summary: Peter had owned his own bakery for years now.  He was known all throughout New York for his cupcakes, and he would say that being on that show where you would compete for who has the best cupcakes was something that helped (especially since his cupcakes won).  People had known where to find him for years.  He hadn't exactly been keen on hiding.  As long as no one knew he was Spider-Man, he didn't care about hiding.  Besides, it was kind of hard to keep your life entirely hidden when you were friends with billionaire Tony Stark, who didn't seem to know what the definition of having a private life was.  As soon as Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter blew up, he hopped right on the train and made sure to be as technologically savvy as he could.





	The Spider's Bakery

Peter had owned his own bakery for years now. He was known all throughout New York for his cupcakes, and he would say that being on that show where you would compete for who has the best cupcakes was something that helped (especially since his cupcakes won). People had known where to find him for years. He hadn't exactly been keen on hiding. As long as no one knew he was Spider-Man, he didn't care about hiding. Besides, it was kind of hard to keep your life entirely hidden when you were friends with billionaire Tony Stark, who didn't seem to know what the definition of having a private life was. As soon as Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter blew up, he hopped right on the train and made sure to be as technologically savvy as he could. 

Every time he posted a picture of Peter and Peter complained, he claimed it was a great way for him to stay in touch. While that may have been true, it was truly annoying that pretty much his entire life had been uploaded only when he wasn't looking. How Tony justified any of it in his mind, Peter didn't know, but there was one day that flipped his life around and it was all because of Tony constantly uploading Peter's whereabouts.

The day had been grim, business slow. There were hardly any lights out, but the ones that were there would mostly be attributed to the street lamps that were sparse on the busy New York streets. There would be a couple of people that dipped in and out of the shop occasionally to either get out of the thunderstorm, throw out their coffee, or to use the bathroom (unfortunately, that was most of the people who were in the shop that day), but there were a few who bought something.

Peter sighed to himself as he restocked one of the cupcakes for the first time that day. When he glanced at the clock, it was only three hours to closing. He needed to learn that maybe he should stop opening on the days when it wouldn't be likely that anyone would be out and about. He stepped out from behind the counter and took a picture of his setup, making sure his four most popular cupcakes were on full display. He admired the photo. 

He was proud of himself. Ever since May died... Things had been rough for Peter, the business was floundering and he didn't know how to dig himself out. He mentioned the failings to Tony and all his advice was had been to open an Instagram account and gain popularity there. Peter didn't like the idea, but he made an account anyways. Occasionally, he would post something, but it wasn't often. It wasn't like he had friends that could really help him out. After graduating from high school, Peter didn't go to college like MJ and Ned. He took a year and a half and broke off from the Avengers. He went back to his solo thing to try and regain a sense of self. He hadn't spoken to anyone from high school in three years, but he made the account anyways. A couple of the Avengers followed it, but they weren't all that active either. Tony tried to promote Peter's bakery as much as he could, but it didn't help as much as Peter would have liked it to.

Peter stared at the photo some more before frowning. He didn't like how the cupcakes on the display looked, so he futzed around with them some more before taking a new photo, the sprinkles and colors displayed perfectly in all the right ways. 

The first of his four most popular cupcakes were based on his Aunt May. It was a rich chocolate cupcake with honeycomb buttercream baked into the batter, topped with honeycomb buttercream. It came with a strawberry on top of the cupcake. It melted in your mouth and it was Peter's favorite cupcake to make. It was called "A Bit of Home Wherever You Go" because that was what May's notes to Peter always said when she would send him homemade goodies whenever he was traveling for the Avengers. Honey was her most favorite flavor in the whole world and Peter discovered that while the honey was sweet, the strawberry gave a nice refresher afterward. 

The second cupcake was for his Uncle Ben. That one was called "Uncle Ben's Famous Choco Cream Pie." The title Peter had given it was accurate. When he was alive, Uncle Ben would always make a Choco Cream Pie that his grandmother had invented, but since Peter had only ever known his uncle to make it, he had to credit Ben with it. It was a devil's food base with a dark chocolate buttercream filling and instead of a swirled top with frosting, it was flat and his uncle would always put chocolate chips on top and topped that off with whipped cream. Since Peter wasn't able to put actual whipped cream on the cupcake because it would melt, he just left that one-off. That was the number one bestseller. The first person who had ever bought one had been none other than Aunt May before her passing. 

The third cupcake was based on Iron Man. Tony had been pestering Peter one day about why his aunt and uncle had special cupcakes dedicated to them, but not him. It got to Peter, so he caved and made one just for Tony. It was a red velvet cupcake that came with a cream cheese frosting with raspberry flavoring in one half and lemon n the other. Peter topped it off with a plastic Iron Man mask ring that Tony had bought thousands of, for some reason. He had also made the mistake of letting Tony choose the name for it (well, Tony had heavily persuaded Peter to allow him to name it. "It is in honor of _me, _after all"). Tony had taken heavy creative liberty with it and decided to call it the "Best Avenger Cupcake." A lot of little kids that looked up to other superheroes were upset with Peter but got the Iron Man cupcake anyways because while he wasn't their favorite, he was a close second. Peter made sure to text Tony every time a kid was crying because it was really Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Black Widow, or some other superhero was their favorite.

The fourth and final best seller was an homage to himself. While the bakery was doing really well, Peter had spent more time there, trying to help with the demands of his bakery and in doing so, he took a bit of a step back from being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It was a reminder to him that even if he wasn't acting Spider-Man, he was still Spider-Man. It was also probably one of his healthier options if he was being honest. He used fresh blueberries in the batter, which gave it a bright blue color, but he would never tell the kids what made it blue when they asked. The frosting was a strawberry buttercream and that also came with a plastic ring, but instead of it being Iron Man, it was Spider-Man, once again, thanks to Tony.

There wasn't a whole lot for Peter to do around the shop other than some basic housekeeping and making sure the bathroom floors weren't muddy every twenty minutes. Every ten, he would sweep the floor, even if no one had been in the store. It just gave him something to do. He didn't know what he was going to do with the leftover cupcakes. He usually would give them to a shelter nearby, but he didn't even know how to transfer all of them. He usually had about fifty, but this time was nearly two hundred. That was the thing that separated Peter from all of the other usual bakeries in Queens. While he classified his shop like a bakery, he was definitely a lot more well known for his cupcakes. Plus, he just enjoyed making them more than cookies and cakes and other foods typically found in bakeries.

He supposed he should have started packing up once he finished posting the photo of the shop, but in forty minutes it had only gotten a handful of likes, so he didn't really think that would be going anywhere. Well, he tried, and he supposed that that was the most he could do. Try. He was tempted to close up early like he always wanted to when the weather was horrific out, but he could never bring himself to. He was always holding out hope that there would be a rush of people that would save him for the day. Usually, there wasn't, but today was unlike any others.

For one, there were a lot more creepy guys in long tan and black trench coats hanging out outside of the shop, just standing there. Peter always chased them away as soon as he saw them. He had no idea what it was they were doing there, but they always seemed to come a lot more when it was dark and dreary out. Peter just wanted nothing to do with their business and didn't want his shop to be known as the one with the creepy men out front doing God knows what.

However, as unusual as it was, that wasn't the part of the day that fucked Peter over mentally six ways to hell and back. No, that shock would come to him with ten minutes left before closing. He really was going to lock up that time, it was what he usually did, but if there was someone there, then he would unlock the door for them. This was not just one person. There was an entire gaggle of people coming up the sidewalk and Peter stopped locking the door. He pulled his key out of the keyhole and pretended like he wasn't staring at them. There had to have been about fifteen to twenty people there. He hoped desperately that they were coming to his shop, but he tried not to get his hopes up. They typically didn't go to his bakery, so he was used to the disappointment.

This group was different, too. They all wore heavy coats and hats that covered their faces. Not a single one of them was looking up, yet they were all huddled together, kind of like how penguins would get close to each other to warm themselves up. Peter was behind the counter, thinking about all of the oddities of the group when the bell on his door chimed. He put his eyes on focus on the person in front of him. No, not just one person. The fifteen to twenty people that had just piled into his tiny bakery, practically standing on top of each other. They were lead by one person. Their hair was long enough to be seen falling out of the sides of the hat. It was curly and black and looked like it was either taken care of ridiculously well or had gel in it (or both, that was probably the more probable answer as Peter thought about it). Something about it seemed really familiar to him. That was when the person looked up at him.

Flash _fucking _Thompson. 

The guy who single-handedly made Peter's entire high school career the shit show that was it was standing right in front of Peter, in _his own fucking territory _minutes before he was about to close. Suddenly, everything became just a bit too much for Peter all at once. He could hear his heart the loudest out of everything in the room with the clock ticking right behind it. He could see Flash's lips moving, but he could hardly make out what he was saying. It looked like something he didn't see very often. There had to have been a reason that he didn't recognize the words, right? He felt like he was about to pass out. That was the moment that everything became clear again. 

The hair that had been standing up on his arms and the back of his neck fell, his vision stopped blurring everything, his hearing became normal again and he could focus on what Flash was saying. "Are you okay, Parker?"

Peter just stared at him in disbelief. "You... you are Parker, aren't you? Peter Parker?" Peter just swallowed thickly and nodded. He didn't know how Flash had tracked him down, but he was ready to throw him out by beating his ass with a frying pan he had laying around. As that thought crossed his mind, he realized that it was probably Tony behind Flash being able to find him. He mentally cursed Tony and tried to collect himself before he made a decision he regretted (A.K.A. kicking out fifteen to twenty people and losing that much money).

It had taken a moment for him to recompose himself and act professionally. This _was _his place of work, after all, and he didn't need some video of him punching the crap out of a customer with inhuman strength going around and put him in more hot water than it was worth. Flash may have made his life hell and bullied him, but they were adults now. They could handle things maturely. Peter cleared his throat. "What can I do you for, Thompson?"

Flash looked around him as if he were checking for bugs in a spy movie. He made a short gesture with both hands, sweeping his index and middle fingers forward, indicating to the people he had brought in that they could order. It was a swarm of people Peter thought he knew but ultimately couldn't decide if he did or not. They all ordered a lot of cupcakes and cookies. Some said it was for their families. Peter didn't care about the reasons, but he was glad that people would be buying what he'd made. It was a good feeling. 

The only person that hadn't come up to him was Flash. He was still standing behind until the last person who had ordered moved off to the side. It wasn't something Peter was used to, but he supposed that Flash just grew up. Flash had waited until Peter was packing up the last order to come up to him. He leaned over the counter. Peter could smell his breath and it smelled strongly of peanuts. It was rather gross.

"Peter," he said quietly, "I came here to say I'm sorry."

Peter froze. That was just about the last thing he had been expecting from Flash _fucking _Thompson. "What?"

"I said I'm sorry. Did you hear me? I know you would always act a lot older than your age, Parker, but," he crossed his arms and chuckled, "I never expected your hearing to go in your twenties, man."

"No, no, I heard you," Peter said distractedly. "I just wasn't expecting that..."

Flash rolled his eyes. "Of course you weren't."

"What are you specifically apologizing for? Actually, better question, what the hell are you doing here? How did you even manage to find me here?"

Flash looked at Peter like he was stupid, which was being a little bit. "You do know that the internet exists, right? And that you're all over Stark's Instagram where he's constantly bragging about how great you are or some bullshit?"

Peter blushed furiously at that. "Oh, right, that," he mumbled.

"Forget about it, did you, Parker?" _Wow, some apology, _Peter thought. _Did he come here just to harass me some more or something?_

"Yeah, actually, I did," he said through gritted teeth. Oh, how he would give anything to smack a hot tray of brownies in Flash's stupid face. _Breathe, Parker, _he coached himself. He let out a short, hot breath. "Are you going to order something or not? Because I have a bakery to close and places to be, so if you aren't going to be nice or buy something, the door is that way. I'm sure you can show yourself out?"

Flash threw up his hands in defense. "Okay, okay, I know we started things a little rocky, but," he sucked in a deep breath. _A little rocky? _Peter's inner monologue jumped to life. _This dude led his super creepy crowd of people into my shop and was weirdly silent the entire time things were going on and then he started to insult me after apologizing. What kind of dick... _"If you are willing, I would love it if you forgave me for all the hard time I put you through in high school. That wasn't fair of me and I have done a lot of growing and maturing at college and stuff. I have a serious girlfriend that I want to propose to."

Peter rolled his eyes. "What does that have to do with anything." He saw Flash's muscles tense. Clearly he was trying to keep some anger down as well. Well, swallow your pride, as the saying went.

"If you could just bear with me for five seconds." Flash's voice was rough and it sounded as though he was grinding his teeth together. This time it was Peter who threw up his hands in defense. Flash cleared his throat. "She made me realize that there was more to the world than being popular and that I have done a lot of wrong in the past. While those are both still things I am greatly struggling with as an adult, I am also trying to make amends."

The whole time that Flash spoke, Peter's arms only got tighter around his chest in the crossed position he was holding them in. He didn't want to forgive Flash, but he also didn't think that he would be any better than Flash if he didn't at least _think _about forgiving him. If he didn't, it would be some petty, childish melodrama he was keeping alive for... what? Shits and giggles? "Why did you bring your weird gang of people around?"

"Simple, Stark wouldn't be posting about you and your bakery so much if you didn't need the help and I figured I could provide that with my people," he said, shrugging like any idiot could figure out. Peter felt like an idiot for not being able to figure it out.

Peter opened his mouth to say something but Flash stopped him. "Look, I'm not asking you to forgive me right now or even this month. Hell, it could be next year if that's what's best for you, but I do ask that you at least _consider _trying to forgive me." Peter clamped his mouth shut. That was a surprisingly mature thing for Flash to say. Then again, the entire time he had been in Peter's bakery he had been nothing but one surprise after another.

It almost made Peter want to forgive him right then and there. _Almost. _He wasn't quite there yet, but he was much closer than he was five minutes ago. Flash banged his fists on the counter lightly. "Anyways, that was all I had to say." He pushed himself back to look at all of the goodies Peter had to sell. "I think I'll take your last two Iron Man cupcakes and your last three Spider-Man ones."

Speechless, Peter couldn't even thank him. He didn't know where to begin. He just rung Flash up and handed him the box of cupcakes. Of course, Flash was the last one out. Before he disappeared entirely, he popped his head back in once more. "Thank you, Spider-Man." Peter could barely hear him. He _definitely _wouldn't have been able to hear him if he didn't have his spider powers.

Peter went to chase after Flash, see what had made him say that, but by the time Peter got outside, Flash and the gang of people were nowhere to be seen. Peter was just standing in the rain, getting soaked.


End file.
